William w



(No Model.)

W. W. ROSSMAN.

TURBINE WATER WHEEL.

Patented Dec. 13, 1892.

IIIllll i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM IV. ROSSMAN, OF DETROIT, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO. CALVIN K. DAY, OF SAME PLACE.

TURBINE WATER-WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 488,029, dated December 13, 1892.

Application filed May 25, 1892. Serial No. 434.257. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM W. RossMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit city, in the county of Becker and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Turbine Water- Wheels; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to turbine waterwheels,-and particularly to that type of wheel in which the water is both received and discharged at their periphery in a tangential direction; and it consists in certain novel constructions, combinations, and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter described and specifically claimed, whereby a wheel of great simplicity and strength is produced which possesses a powerful starting power which will run steadily and with a comparatively small :amount of water and utilize the force of the water to the greatest advantage.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top View, partly in section, of a penstock and my improved water-wheel. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, the penstock being shown in section; and Fig. 3 is a detail view of the wheel partly in section.

A in the drawings represents a stationary penstock of suitable shape and size, having a bottom and sides and provided with a central vertical passage for the insertion and revolution therein of the water-wheel B. Around and extending above the central opening a number of chutes a corresponding to the number of buckets b in the wheelsay seven-are provided, the same being formed by placing in a circle at regular intervals se mental pieces a, having their ends beveled, as at c 0', so as to produce flaring entrances and cause the water to enter and strike the broad surfaces of the buckets near their outer termini, and thus secure an effective pressure of the water and obtain the leverage of the buckets to the greatest extent possible. The chutes are closed at top by a circular capplate a, through which the shaft B of the wheel extends, and at bottom by the bottom of the penstock. The wheel proper B consists of a closed bottom portion dand a cylindrical vertical portion f, firmly bound with strong bands 9 g. The cylindrical portion peripherally is formed in segments h, each segment resembling in horizontal section a concave convex lens, and the respective segments are set so that the outer termini of the segments are on a circle X and the inner termini on a circle X, the diameter of the circle X being much greater than that of the circle X. By this construction the water in emerging from thewheel proper at its periphery will have a gliding free-and-easy movement and not retard the rotation of the wheel.

Between the hub (land the cylindrical portion f of the wheel proper and between the hub and chute portion of the penstock buckets b b are constructed. The portions 17 of the buckets are curved, while the portions 1) are straight up and down and radial. The curved portions have inclination downward and outward from the hub and from the top of the portion f and terminate at the base of the discharge passages m in the periphery of the portion f. The backs of the buckets are straight for a much greater portion of their depth than are the fronts thereof, and on the said backs horizontal transverse ribs n are formed for the purpose of preventing the water which is projected against the fronts of the buckets crowding upward after it has be-' gun to glide off upon the curved portions of the buckets. These ribs also strengthen the bucket-s.

It will be seen that the water on entering through the chutes exerts its force approximately tangentially or in a direct manner and at points of the buckets far away from the hub, and by this means great leverage is secured for turning the wheel. The water then descends and expends its remaining force,in

combination with its gravity, upon the inv having buckets provided with vertical upper portions and downwardly and outwardly r 5 curving lower portions, and vertical concaveconvex peripheral discharge-passages at and above the termini of the curved portions of the buckets, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my 20 signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM W. ROSSMAN.

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. STURTEVANT, ELBERT L. JENNINGS. 

